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Saturday, December 14, 2013

The average American family spends about $10,000 a year for transportation, according to Author Elly Blue’s new book Bikenomics. Bybiking, walking, and riding public transportation, a great deal of money could be saved by consumers. Blue’s insight rings true: I had a co-worker who had not owned a car for many years, and she said she saved about $10,000 a year each year of being carless. In other words, she saved over $50,000 during that time.

Since most of us are in the habit of driving cars, we may assume that is the thing to do and overlook the costs due to the extra convenience. If a family in an urban area could save $100,000 in ten years of not driving a car, however, that money could be used on education for the children. Today, one of the major costs and concerns for parents is how they are going to pay for higher education. (Typically, it is through loans, some with high interest rates, and today’s economy is not making it easy at all for young college graduates to pay those off, or to even begin.)